Water Use and Stream-Aquifer-Phreatophyte Interaction Along a Tamarisk-Dominated Segment of the Lower Colorado River

Air and spaceborne remotely sensed imagery provide spatially distributed information that can significantly assist decision makers and water managers. Three measuring stations, named Slitherin, Diablo, and Swamp, were installed within the lower Cibola National Wildlife Refuge (CNWR) at sites that were variable in tamarisk density, groundwater availability, and groundwater quality. Groundwater depth should be converted to groundwater elevation before any analysis of subsurface flow and stream-aquifer interactions could be performed. The evapo-transpiration (ET) process over some riparian ecosystems is more water limited than energy limited. In addition, phreatophytes adapted to arid/semiarid climates have different mechanisms for controlling their stomatal conductance and transpiration rate. In managing water deliveries on the Lower Colorado Riverdo River, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) utilizes an approach that is known as the Lower Colorado River Accounting System (LCRAS).